Tuesday 16 February 2010

Is this your Knot - Update

The colour ringed Knot I saw in January in the Brierdene car park has now been identified. I submitted details on the Euring website and today I got the following email.

Dear Tim, Dick, Brian, Sara and Henk
Sara, many thanks indeed for forwarding the reports of the colour-marked Red Knot seen at St. Mary's Island/Whitley Bay, UK - the sightings were made by Tim Sexton on 16 Jan 2010, Dick Gihlespy on 28 Jan 2010, and Brian Robson on 31 Jan 2010. Since the three sightings all appear to involve the same bird, I hope you will not mind if I reply to all three of you (and Sara and Henk) in one email.
The combination reported was Fw,SL:m,YY (white flag upper left, grey over light green on lower left: metal upper right, yellow over yellow lower right), which is clearly identifiable as a knot that was captured during our banding operations at Alert, Ellesmere Island, Canada - details as follows:

Red Knot
Colour bands: Fw,SL:m,YY (white flag upper left, grey over light green on lower left: metal upper right, yellow over yellow lower right)
Metal band: 1313-59882
Adult male (plumage, sex confirmed by DNA analysis)
Captured: 10 June 2007, Alert, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada 82 30N 62 20W
The bird was caught using rocket nets at the sewage outfall stream near the weather/military station at Alert. It weighed 128g when captured - it had presumably arrived some time in the past week to ten days and had not yet developed a brood patch (which is usually developed a little closer to when they start incubating).

Some notes: (1) Tim - thanks for the video - it was really clear, and I am confident the colours on the lower left are grey over light green - really nice to see the bird "in action"! (2) Dick - thanks for the detailed note and description. (3) Brian - looks as though the colours on the lower left were grey over green, with the other observations and video clearing up any uncertainty.

Once again, thanks to everyone for sending in these very interesting observations. It is very nice to get information on how long a bird stays in a certain area, and if you are able to make any further observations of the bird, please let us know.

Best wishes
Guy Morrison


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3 comments:

  1. Fascinating stuff. To think this bird travels nearly as far as you do with your birding Tim. Class posting.
    John

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  2. Thanks for posting that Tim as JohnnyK said fascinating stuff

    Stewart

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